The centrepiece of the 2019 Bicentenary programme will be a temporary exhibition at the Library of Birmingham exploring the life and legacy of James Watt.

Featuring more than 100 internationally important archival and museum objects, the exhibition will include paintings, works on paper, furniture, silver, scientific instruments, personal items, photographs, documents, notebooks and letters.

Highlights include James Watt’s notebooks detailing his experiments, personal correspondence with friends and family, silverware by Matthew Boulton, a Watt copy press, a working scale model engine and Sir Thomas Lawrence’s 1812 portrait of the great engineer.